Monday, May 19, 2014

Gamer's Source 5/19/2014

Hello and welcome to the Gamer's Source, your destination for the gaming conversation. Twitch is being eyed by a giant tech company for the tune of $1 billion and Rare is downsizing. SO, without further ado, the news:NUMBER One!

The big news of the day, Twitch is currently in talks with Google to be bought. Though no official deal has been reached, rumors are swirling around the web that the company would shift under YouTube and would be bought out for $1 billion. This also comes off the smaller rumors that Microsoft has been looking at purchasing the video game streaming company as well.

Scary stuff. Google just seems to grab up everything. Personally , Google taking over Twitch would probably not be too bad. The tech giant is really good about purchasing companies and then letting them run pretty autonomously. However, if Microsoft were to pick up Twitch it would be a huge win for them in this generation's console war. NUMBER Two!!

Layoffs hit developer Rare this week. The size of these layoffs has yet to be seen, though the developer is pointing to weak sales of it's latest game, Kinect Sports Rivals, as the reason for such layoffs. There is also speculation that the Kinect-less Xbox One bundle could be a reason for the developer to downsize as Rare has worked on primarily Kinect games for the past few years. Best of wishes to all who have been affected.

This just sucks, but it was bound to happen. Rare is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Being shoe-horned into terrible Kinect games and not being given much room to grow has only stifled the studio and made it less relevant to the industry. Taking Kinect out of Xbox One seems to be the final nail in Rare's coffin, which feels like such a waste for everyone involved. Number THREE!!!

PlayStation Now betas are moving to PS4 tomorrow. Up until now, the beta has been open only on PS3. Those who enrolled earlier this year need to keep an eye on their inbox for a voucher code that will grant them access on Sony's newest console.

For those who don't know, PS Now is a streaming service that will allow PS4, PS3 and PS Vita owners to stream games to their respective consoles as well as movies and music. Eventually, the service will also work on phones, tablets and smart TV's.

This is exciting because it is pretty much the only way we will get backwards compatibility on the PS4. For anyone who snags a code, hit me up and tell me what you think. I am very curious about this service.

And that is all! Please feel free to comment down below. I'm always interested in what gamers have to say about the industry. Don't forget to share this site with your friends who also like gaming. And, as always, keep the conversation going.